Nagarjuna and the Mahayana Buddhist
Philosophy of Emptiness and the Two-fold Truth

Recap of key ideas:

Two-fold truth (Truth which consists of two aspects of
reality, inseparable from one another like the two sides of a
coin.)

conventional truth/highest truth

form/emptiness

duality/nonduality

distinctions/beyond distinctions

dualistic consciousness/nondualistic awareness

dichotomous thinking/thinking without thinking

(Analogy: My hand reaches for my keys spontaneously.)

Four-fold dialectic (tetralemma, Skt. catus-koti)

1. A exists. Form

This is known as naive realism in Western philosophy. There is
believed to be a real thing A that corresponds to the word "A."

2. A doesn't exist. Emptiness

a) There is no fixed definition or essence. b) reality is beyond
fixed definitions or distinctions and lies in a nondual awareness of
reality beyond words, of oneness.

3.A both exists and doesn't exist. Form and emptiness

One can speak of things at the conventional level of language and
dualistic thinking, but in speaking of things one lives in the world
of nondual awareness, of highest truth. Analogy: A painter speaks of
the beauty of the tree and is able to do so convincingly precisely
because she knows the tree intimately, beyond preconceived notions of
what the tree is or should be.

Nondual awareness of the two-fold truth is dynamic and continually
unfolding. If I say, "I know what the two-fold truth is, it's that
all things both exist and do not exist, that form is emptiness," then
I have already fallen into a fixed idea of the two-fold truth. Such
concepts as two-fold truth and emptiness themselves cannot capture
reality; they are expressions at the conventional level of language
used to help one attain or express awareness at the highest level of
emptiness.

The San-lun school is the Chinese development of Nagarjuna's
Emptiness school. All of East Asian Mahayana looks to Nagarjuna as
their founding figure, but the San-lun remains close to his way of
understanding emptiness.

Four middles, p. 349. "Middle" generally has the
connotation of the middle way which captures both form and emptiness.
It also has the meaning of hitting the middle, hitting the mark, on
target.

Comparative middle-achieves truth by avoiding extremes of
eternalism and annihilationalism. This is very close to avoiding
attachment to either form or emptiness. For example, I suffer if I am
attached to life, to the beautiful flower, for example. I also suffer
if I am attached to the idea that everything is meaningless since
everything is destroyed, including the flower. I attain true
awareness by appreciating the rare beauty of the flower against the
deep void of the cosmos, the night sky.

Exhaustive middle-achieves truth by applying the comparative
middle to different situations. The comparative middle is seen as an
antidote to the poison of attached thinking. Therefore there is no
fixed position called "middle."

Absolute middle-is absolute awareness, free of having to apply any
formula or discursive logic to break through attached thinking.
Residing in nondual awareness.

Creative middle-is the dynamic awareness or life of one who has no
need to apply any formula or doctrine as an antidote or medicine for
the illness of dichotomous thinking but lives creatively in the world
of distinctions to free others from the ills of discursive logic.

T'ien-t'ai: The Buddhism of Evil Nature

Apophatic, p. 350 Expressing the truth through the use of
the negative use of language, to indicate what the truth is not.

Kataphatic. Expressing truth through the positive use of
language to describe and give substance to the truth.

Dependent co-arising, p. 350. In the world of flux of
emptiness, words and the world defined by the distinctions of
language exists contextually, dependent upon mutual definition.

Good depends upon bad, light depends upon dark. Reality lies both
within this world of experienced distinctions and beyond it in
nondual emptiness.

Amitabha Buddha. The buddha of infinite light, symbolic and
expressive of cosmic nondual awareness which breaks through the dark
ignorance of dualistic thinking.

Chih-i. Major T'ien-t'ai thinker who focuses the evil,
deluded nature of human beings. According to Chih-i, the experience
of delusion, of believing that one's world of ideas is itself
reality, is more common to human beings than awakening to nondual
awareness. For this reason, Chih-i focuses on what he calls the
karmically evil side of human experience. This evil is the result of
repeated effects of seeing and acting in the world based on one's
preconceived notions of reality; thus, it is karmic evil, based on
the effects of one own activities, thinking and acting. Of the many
personifications of nondual awareness, Amitabha is particularly apt
since this buddha of infinite light is also regarded as the buddha of
compassion.

Constant-sitting samadhi. Practice of focusing on the
nondual infinite awareness of Amitabha. In this practice of sitting
meditation, one realizes that blind passion (attachment to various
desires based on distinctions) and enlightenment (awakening to
nonduality) are one. This is like seeing that the turbulent waves on
the surface of the ocean are inseparable from the tranquility of deep
ocean currents. The deeper one plumbs the depths of the wave, the
more apparent becomes the fact that it is just the tip of a vast and
tranquil ocean.

Constant-walking samadhi. Practice of saying the name of
Amitabha, Na-mo-a-mi-t'o-fo, repeatedly while walking in meditation
around the statue of Amitabha. The name actually means "I take refuge
in Amitabha," or "I take refuge in the boundless light of nondual
awareness." Through this meditation one becomes aware that one's true
self is not other than the personification of nondual awareness.

Combination of sitting and walking samadhi. Various
rituals are performed while sitting, standing, and walking. These
ritual practices are meant to transform one's dualistic consciousness
to nondual awareness in every facet of life, moment to moment. In
preparation, one repents or abandons the desire to fulfill the aims
of dualistic thinking which craves fulfillment in the world of
distinctions (food, sex, sleep, etc.).

The samadhi which involves neither walking nor sitting.
Going beyond the boundaries of ritualized, formalized practice, one
seeks to achieve nondual awareness in ordinary everyday activities.
One observes in each moment the arising and passing away of both good
thoughts (pleasant or joyful thoughts arising out of nondual
awareness) and bad thoughts (unhappy or angry thoughts arising out of
attached thinking). Once experience is transformed into thoughts,
they are the same. Whether good or bad, they are empty, and one lets
go of all thoughts so that they can return to the ocean of
emptiness.

Hua-yen: The Buddhism of multiple interpenetrating
phenomena

We will return to a more detailed study of Hua-yen Buddhism when
we examine the Japanese Buddhist monk Myoe. In the meantime, we are
introduced to Hua-yen Buddhism through the Chinese master
Fa-tsang.

Based on again on form and emptiness, Fa-tsang provides another
way to integrate the two-fold truth into one's awareness.

Mutual negation. Form and emptiness cannot be realized
simultaneously. Analogy: I cannot meditate and do my taxes a the same
time.

Mutual dependence. If, however, emptiness is the true
nature of form, then I should be able to maintain the awareness of
emptiness in the midst of distinctions. Analogy: I can talk about my
taxes to my friend while I effortlessly negotiate freeway
traffic.

All phenomena exist in mutual interpenetration.

a) At one level, emptiness remains hidden while form is
established. Analogy: I am conscious of my taxes, and the emptiness
of being-driving is hidden from my mind.

b) Form is hidden, emptiness is established. Analogy: I lose
myself in contemplation of nature as I take a walk. The trees and
birds are there, but I do not even notice them.

c) The world of form and emptiness are so seamlessly blended
together that all talk of form and emptiness, established and hidden,
is irrelevant, and abstraction. Analogy: Five friends have gotten
together after not seeing each other for a year. Yet, the oneness of
the friendship picks up where it left off. They pour drinks for each
other without pause, talk, move around the room, and night has fallen
before anyone notices.